Time for an update I wanted to put on the car for a long time. It's been in the making for quite a while, and it's finally done!
So, first thing that you may notice: Most parts are black now, and the remaining parts will be painted soon. I liked the white plastics, it's more contrasting, but it was more brown/beige lately, so this makes the car look neat again.
That's not really what the post is about though, that is the revised front suspension!
So what has changed?
Well, first of all, the car now uses long (DEX210 rear) shocks on the front end. This increases upward travel and increases droop. It also utilizes the DEX210's original shock tower/shock tower geometry. So the car no longer needs an extra set of front shocks, no custom front shock tower and no more requirement for two sets of front springs for full setup adjustability. Though it's still a goal and not a certainty, that does help to make the idea of a conversion more realistic (it reduces the costs of a converted car by up to 55GBP).
Anyway, to make this system work, the car did need new suspension arms - with a gullwing shape. This gave the opportunity to update some more things, too!
For one, the arm only has two damper mounting holes anymore - the inside mounting hole is now at the point where the outside hole was before, and the other one is further to the outside. The hole to the stabilizer is slightly further inside to prevent rubbing between shock and stabilizer. Also, the suspension arms are 0.75mm longer, so the car is slightly wider now. Lastly, The arms have a 1mm shim at the inner hinge pin, and another one at the outside hinge pin. This allows the front hubs to be moved forward to test if this could make the car handle more neutral particularly in high traction conditions, where the forward traction is of less priority than minimizing the overhang of the motor.
The system feels quite smooth on the table (I'd say better than the previous front end) - so that's a promising start! If all goes well, the system is due to be tested Sunday in a club meet on clay